Bundesliga: 7.94 million viewers watch Bayern Munich - Leverkusen on ZDF in Germany (Share: 29.3%)

FC Bayern Munich - Bayer 04 Leverkusen (3-1), the opening match of the 2017-18 Bundesliga season, drew 7.94 million viewers on average in Germany on the public channel ZDF on Friday 18/08/2017 (kick-off at 20.30 CET).

This figure represented an audience share of 29.3%, and allowed ZDF to achieve the best audience in the German television market for prime time on 18/08/2017. This is a new record for an opening match of the Bundesliga since 2002, the date of the first broadcast of this opening game on free-to-air TV.

FC Bayern Munich - SV Werder Bremen (6-0), the opening match of the 2016-17 Bundesliga season, had drawn 6.43 million viewers on average in Germany on the public channel ARD and one of the pay-TV channels of Sky Deutschland (see below) on Friday, 26/08/2016 (kick-off at 20:30).

• The opening match of the 2017-18 season of the Bundesliga was also broadcast on the pay-TV channel Eurosport 2 HD Xtra, which did not communicate its audience.

2016-17 Bundesliga: Bayern - Bremen opening match drew 5.98 million viewers on ARD

• FC Bayern Munich - SV Werder Bremen (6-0), the…